Cupid's Christmas (Serendipity #3)(39)
He hit redial but got nothing. No ring. No message. No anything.
He then tried calling the house but after a single ring, that phone also went dead.
Life Management is the cause of this—now I know exactly what they’re up to. When that car went airborne the future became the present and I could see straight into the center of what was to be. As far as I’m concerned their actions are over the top irresponsible! I’ve had it! No more Mister Love, Mister Nice Guy, Mister Take-whatever-you-hand-me. Enough is enough. I’m ready for a fight!
I’ve been working on getting Eleanor and John together for over two years and now that I’ve got everything in place, they come up with this kind of disaster? Well this time they’re not getting away with it. I’m going in with both fists swinging!
Yeah, I know the rules. Life Management’s events get First Priority, but…this? No way.
I’ll probably catch the fire of retribution for what I’m about to do, but this time I’m not letting those guys get away with it! If I give up believing in love, my life would be hell anyway.
Cupid…The Crash
The black car hit the curb with such force that it went airborne, flew by Eleanor whacking her in the back, flipped over and hit the Toyota then flipped again and crashed through the plate glass window. When the car finally came to a stop, there were five people lying on the ground—an elderly couple, a young girl, Eleanor and Lindsay. Eleanor was face down on top of the shopping bag full of broken glass that, moments earlier, had been her additional place settings. Lindsay was lying on her back with her right leg twisted beneath her. Neither of them was moving. Inside the store a clerk pinned behind the car’s right fender frantically screamed for someone to pull her free. A teenage boy stumbled around calling for his dad. The boy’s left arm was dangling from his shoulder and the large gash above his right eyebrow was oozing blood. The driver of the car was slumped over the wheel with a shaft of window glass going in one side of his neck and out the other.
The street was littered with broken glass and remnants of people, a purse, a mangled shopping bag, a shoe, a trampled cell phone, a red muffler hanging from a parking meter. Those who were standing and had escaped injury, scrambled to flee the spot—even though the disaster had come to a standstill. Although no one stepped forward to claim credit for it, a caller dialed 9-1-1 and reported the accident.
A burly father and son team stepped through the broken window and tried to push the mangled car sideways to free the trapped clerk. Before they could make it happen, the wail of sirens filled the air. “The cops are here now,” the father told the trapped clerk, “Stay calm. They’ll have you out in no time.” The frightened clerk ceased screaming, but pleaded for her rescuers to stay. “Please,” she begged, “…stay with me until they get here.”
The first ambulance pulled up seconds after the police car.
Kneeling beside Eleanor was a woman who’d been half a block back, but seen everything. She held Eleanor’s limp hand in hers, “You’ll be okay,” she mumbled, “You’ll be okay.” Eleanor gave no response.
When the Paramedics scrambled out of the truck the older one hurried over to the girl who’d been walking just steps in front of Lindsay, she’d been the one the car hit after the first flip, and she’d taken the brunt of the impact. The girl had been propelled across the sidewalk, slammed into the side of the building and brought down hard on her head. The Paramedic bent over the girl, listened for sounds of breath and felt for a pulse. After less than a minute he stood and shook his head sorrowfully.
The officer first on the scene was leaning over Eleanor who appeared to be bleeding from a number of places. “Do you know her?” he asked the woman holding Eleanor’s hand.
“No,” the woman answered. “But, when I saw her get hit, I came to see if I could help.”
“Can you tell me what happened?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “It was so quick. That car came from out of nowhere…” she hesitated for a moment and tried to remember. “I think the black car hit something then it went up in the air and when it came down it hit this woman in the back and then it hit the young girl. Then everybody started screaming and glass started breaking…” The woman suddenly raised her hand and covered her eyes, as if she had seen something terrible. “Oh my God!” she gasped. “The car wasn’t going to hit this woman. It was going to hit that blonde girl.” She pointed to Lindsay, who now had a Paramedic kneeling beside her. “The car hit this woman because she pushed the girl out of the way!”
“They were together?” the officer asked.
“Yes, I’m sure they were,” the woman nodded. “Before the accident I saw them talking. I think that girl is her daughter.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know her—”
“I don’t,” the woman said sadly, “but I know only a mother would do what she did.”
The elderly couple was dazed but relatively unharmed. The woman had cuts on her leg and the man on his hands, but that seemed to be the extent of their injuries. “We were lucky,” he told the officer. “We could’ve been killed.” He didn’t say so, but he was feeling guilty about how he’d rushed his wife to hurry up. If he’d allowed her to spend another few minutes shopping they’d still be in Macy’s petite department and would have avoided the incident altogether.